DeSantis Announces Pardons for All Floridians Charged With Mask Violations

Republican Florida Gov. 👤Ron Desantis granted two Broward County gym owners clemency Wednesday for not enforcing a mask mandate during the coronavirus pandemic and vowed to pardon all Floridians with similar outstanding infractions.

Mike Carnevale, the now-former owner of Fitness 1440 in Plantation, and his wife, Jillian, were arrested numerous times last summer and appeared before a judge in March for failing to comply with the county’s mask mandates, WTVJ-TV reported.

“It’s a total overreach, Laura,” DeSantis told “The Ingraham Angle” host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday.

“This is exactly what we ordered against last summer, many, many months ago.”

The Carnevales were also on Ingraham’s show and DeSantis addressed them directly when he talked about their case.

“I was actually just recently briefed on this case and we looked at it and so I’m glad you have Mike and Jillian on, and I’m also glad to be on to be able to say that effective tomorrow morning, I’m going to sign a reprieve under my constitutional authority,” the governor said.

“So that will delay the case for 60 days against both of them, and then when our clemency board meets in the coming weeks, we’ll issue pardons, not only for Mike and Jillian, but for any Floridian that may have outstanding infractions for things like masks and social distancing.”